Just out: Gerontocracy in America: How the Old Are Hoarding Power and Wealth―and What to Do About It by Samuel Moyn.
“As Americans debate President Biden’s infirmities and President Trump’s erratic behavior, we’ve neglected the bigger problem before us: a massive transfer of power and wealth to the oldest among us, and the curtailment of the prospects of the young.”
“If there is one thing Ukraine’s European allies need out of the US at the Group of Seven summit, it’s to get Volodymyr Zelenskyy time with Donald Trump and nudge the US president to pay more attention to Russia’s war on Ukraine,” Bloomberg reports.
“World leaders gathered at this week’s meeting in France see Europe and the US converging in the view that Ukraine’s position is getting stronger, according to G7 officials who asked not to be named as the discussions are private.”
“Five months after the demolition of the White House’s East Wing, President Donald Trump claimed that the project to construct a massive ballroom and a bunker in its place would cost up to $400 million and that private donors would pay for all of it,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Trump: “This is taxpayer-free. We have no taxpayer putting up 10 cents.”
“But a detailed project summary prepared for the White House by the contractor more than three weeks before Trump’s comments estimated the total construction cost at $600 million — with more than half coming from taxpayers.”
“President Donald Trump on Tuesday signaled that he’s open to sending details of the agreement with Iran to members of Congress, as lawmakers from both parties have raised questions,” CNBC reports.
The Atlantic: “Another mark of how much the U.S. has deviated from its aims at the conflict’s outset is the fate of the Strait of Hormuz. Its centrality to the new memorandum might suggest that Iran’s blockage of the narrow channel was a reason for the U.S. and Israel to go to war in the first place. Not so. The strait was open on the day the war started. Iran closed it, snarling global energy-supply chains, to gain exactly the leverage now being employed at the negotiating table.”
“By contrast, none of Trump’s initial goals for the conflict has been achieved.”
Bloomberg: “The biggest issue Trump focused on when he launched the conflict, Iran’s nuclear program, remains unresolved and subject to further talks. There’s doubt about what concessions Iran might make.”
“The firmest detail — a promise to reopen the strait for 60 days — is simply a return to the status quo before the war. And it’s unclear if that will remain in place under any long-term deal, or what the US might have to give to keep it.”
“NATO officials on Tuesday sought to project confidence that Europe could absorb deep American military cuts to the alliance — even as the continent lacks some of the weapons Washington is planning to withdraw and has no clear path to replacing them,” Bloomberg reports.
New York Times: “At the time of his death, Epstein was alone in his cell in spite of clear guidance to the contrary, while the guards assigned to his section of the jail neglected to conduct their rounds for hours. The jail’s security-camera system partially failed, and the video it did record showed an orange blur — the color of an inmate’s uniform — moving toward Epstein’s corridor shortly before his death. After Epstein’s body was found, evidence from his cell was not cataloged carefully, and photographs and objects gathered there seemed difficult to reconcile with aspects of his autopsy report. Two pathologists present at that autopsy had differing interpretations of the injuries to his neck.”
“There were so many people with an ostensible stake, one way or another, in Epstein’s death. Was it possible that all of this just happened?”
“Federal officials have arrested multiple people who they claim discussed plots to attack the UFC fight night event at the White House, including by using drones and a gunman,” CNN reports.
Seth Masket: “Okay, what the hell’s going on here? I haven’t heard this many gay taunts since middle school. In the 80s.”
“Well for one thing, Paxton does not have a great hand in this contest. He’s a strikingly unpopular political figure in Texas and was actually impeached for bribery and other crimes in a bipartisan vote a few years ago. Talarico, meanwhile, has proven very media-savvy and engaging. There’s also a strong national tide against Republicans right now (even popular ones!), and Paxton knows that just talking up his fealty to Trump is probably not enough to win this contest. So he’s just going personal and homophobic, in a shockingly overt manner. It makes one long for the subtlety of Trump’s ‘Kamala’s for they/them; Trump’s for you’ ad from two years ago.”
“Part of this is a relatively new trend in conservative politics, with many conservatives embracing a performative hyper-masculinity and obsessing on traditional (and in many cases imaginary) gender roles. For God’s sake, there was a UFC match on the White House lawn yesterday.”
“Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Donald Trump met on the sidelines of the G7 in Evian, France, in their first known encounter since an escalating clash over Pope Leo XIV and the war on Iran,” Bloomberg reports.
“The Monday meeting was brief and helped clear the air, according to people familiar with the Italian government’s thinking.”
“House Democrats are betting that a future Speaker Hakeem Jeffries wouldn’t struggle with the type of aisle-crossing rebellion that’s often vexed current Speaker Mike Johnson,” Semafor reports.
“That’s in part because of a House rule that’s prolonged Johnson’s problems: Any 218 House members can force a bill to the floor, bypassing leaders in the majority party. The current Congress has set a modern record for the use of this GOP leadership-defying maneuver — resulting in the passage of a Ukraine aid bill and a worker contracts bill during this month alone.”
“But Democrats don’t see much reason to fear what’s known as the discharge petition if they prevail in the midterms, and several House sources told Semafor they wouldn’t look to change it. Members of their party would have few incentives to break with Jeffries, who’d take office as the first Black speaker and lead a caucus eager to align against the Trump administration.”
“Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is endorsing progressive former Rep. Cori Bush’s comeback bid in Missouri, saying in a statement shared first with Semafor that “she will fight back against Republican attacks on our fundamental freedoms, and transform our economy, and our government into one that works for everyone, not just the powerful and well-connected,” Semafor reports.
Paul Krugman: “On Sunday Donald Trump celebrated his 80th birthday with a cage match on the White House lawn. The match and the events that surrounded it — especially the press conference with UFC fighters, shown above, held on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial — were a desecration of America’s capital, whose monuments and buildings have always endeavored to represent small-r republican virtues. The whole affair was an affront to the values on which this nation was founded and also unspeakably vulgar.”
“That last criticism may strike some readers as elitist and trivial. Yet the vulgarity that is the hallmark of Trump and his surrounding circle of oligarchs is a symptom of something not at all trivial: The collapse of social norms.”
G. Elliot Morris: “This poll question has predicted all but one election since 1948. It suggests Democrats could win by 8-12 points in November.”
New York Times: “Trump acknowledged what has become abundantly clear in the last year: that the war in Ukraine — which he repeatedly claimed he would resolve within 24 hours of taking office — is not his priority. Asked whether he would focus on Ukraine in his upcoming meetings, Trump said, ‘we were focused on Iran.'”
“He reiterated his position that the war in Ukraine is not America’s fight.”
Said Trump: “We have nothing to do with it, we sell weapons to them. It has no impact on us, other than we sell weapons. We’re thousands of miles away.”
A new 2WAY and Wick poll in Maine finds Graham Platner (D) in a tight contest for Sen. Susan Collins’ (R-ME) seat, 48% to 45%.
Playbook: “Digging deeper, the poll finds female voters favoring Platner, while men favor Collins. But it also shows a majority of voters with at least some concern on Platner’s multiple scandals — the biggest being 47.6 percent who are “very concerned” about the allegations from his former girlfriends.”
Associated Press/NORC Poll: “Only about one-quarter of Americans say the U.S. stands above all other countries in the world, the new poll found, while 44% say it’s one of the greatest countries in the world, along with some others. About 3 in 10 say there are better countries than the U.S.”
“Shipowners will not resume transit through the Strait of Hormuz for weeks until they are confident that the US-Iran deal is ‘material,’ the head of the world’s biggest tanker operator has warned,” the Financial Times reports.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
